About DraftKings

Based out of Boston, MA and operated by Rotowire, Inc., DraftKings is a website that allows users from all over the world to enter into daily and weekly fantasy sports contests. The company claims that everything they offer is 100% legal, and their primary marketing angle is that they provide “rapid-fire,” short-term contests when compared to other seasonal leagues. In fact, even though they’ve only been in business since 2012, they’re widely considered one of the most reputable online fantasy sports destinations.

DraftKings has been featured in a wide variety of media, including the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Forbes, and TechCrunch, and has a solid social media presence with over 6,000 Facebook likes, and 4,100 Twitter followers. DraftKings has an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau, and based on our research, has very positive customer and industry reviews.

How DraftKings Works

DraftKings offers fantasy leagues for football, baseball, basketball, hockey, college football, and college basketball, and according to their website, the process can be completed in five easy steps:

Sign Up: To begin, you’ll only need to choose a username and enter your email address. Signing up is completely free, and you’ll be credited with $50,000 to apply toward your team’s salary. However, remember that fantasy sports leagues are technically gambling, so you’ll need to be at least 18 years old.

Pick Your Contest: You can play free or paid contests, including guaranteed, qualifiers, head-to-head, 50/50, multipliers, and more (see below for specifics).

Create Your Lineup: Choose your sport, and then draft a complete team in just a few minutes. Each player’s salary is based on their overall skill level, and will be deducted from you overall credits. DraftKings is unique in that each user only has $50,000 to spend on player salaries, which levels the playing field.

Watch: DraftKings offers you the ability to monitor your teams live on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Win: Once your chosen contest ends, your accounted will be credited. Once you decide to withdraw your winnings, your request will be processed within two business days.

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DraftKings Contests

DraftKings offers several different kinds of contests, including:

Freeroll: Completely free to enter, and winnings are paid using Entry Tickets or DraftKings dollars, which can then be redeemed for other contests.

Guaranteed Prize Pool (GPP): Highlighted in orange in the DraftKings lobby, GPP contests payout the entire prize pool, regardless of whether or not a contest was filled to capacity.

Double Up: Places are double your original entry fee, and all players are paid the same amount.

Qualifiers: Instead of paying cash, Qualifier contests pay out in tickets that can be redeemed for use in paid contests.

Winner Takes All: Only the first place player wins, who will take the entire prize pool.

Multi-Entry: You’ll be allowed to enter multiple teams into a single contest. Payouts vary by game.

Once you’ve begun, you’ll be able to monitor your lineup’s status as well as your contests in real time. Your My Contests page will also include any upcoming contests, as well as those you’ve already completed.

DraftKings Pricing & Refund Policy

Signing up for DraftKings is completely free. However, if you choose to participate in some of the paid contests, you’ll need to add credits to your account using a credit card, PayPal, or Dwolla. As a first time user, you’ll receive a free $2 credit to apply to the paid game of your choice, in addition to a bonus equal to the amount of your deposit. In other words, if you deposit $250 into your DraftKings account, you’ll receive an additional $250 in bonus credits. DraftKings does not offer refunds of any kind once your funds have been applied to a contest, so keep this in mind before entering.

From an earnings perspective, DraftKings also gives you the opportunity to earn up to 40% commission for referring up to five friends.

Pros:

A reputation as one of the best online fantasy sports sites.

Free to sign up, and easy to use.

“Rapid-fire” contests on a daily and weekly basis (depending on the sport).

100% bonus on your first deposit.

Numerous types of contests, and immediate winnings payout.

Great user experience, whether on your PC or mobile device.

Cons:

None noted.

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Draft Kings is legit . Been paid multiple of 1000's

By Mandeer,

Chicago, IL,

Aug 12, 2015

Don't listen to the losers. You can see every ones team once the game is pre-game. You can't see until then, do to it's the on site you can switch people out. (i.e game time call, injury, switch in line ups.) Unlike Fanduel or Draftstreet once one game starts your team is locked. DraftKings is legit.

First week with DraftKings

By Philip,

Jul 7, 2015

This is my first week with DraftKings. I put in 250 and came out with 800. The only scam I could see is if they didn't let me withdraw my money. They are not ripping you off with fake accounts and bots. You can see the opponents players as they are playing. They very clearly make money by taking a cut out of the entry fees before offering prizes. I think it is 85% of entry fees for their events are paid out as prizes so they keep 15% as their cut.

I'm all in!

By Jake,

Hot Springs, SD,

Apr 16, 2015

All you who think this is rigged: Coming from a guy who started with 200 bucks, I cashed in about 30 grand within the last week and a half through leagues 50/50 and small field tournaments and do your research!

Why is that so unbelievable? I won 800 last weekend on golf and took first in a smaller baseball league and won 500 the week before. I work with a guy that took 2 grand home taking first as well. Do your research and make good lineups and you can win as well. And withdrawing was easy. It came in 2 days right back to my account. Simple.

No reason to be a scam

By Mike,

Oct 9, 2015

There is no reason for DraftKings to pull off a scam. The amount of money they make just from the juice or rake is millions. They want a reputable business to keep customers happy. I've won a few times, $800, $1100. I enjoy the experience and have better luck betting against the general public than I do against Vegas.

It takes time to see results.

I have been betting daily on DraftKings for nine months. It is not a scam, but one has to know what they are doing in order to get results. I spend about 3 to 5 hours a day making my lineups and registering (this is how I earn a living). You also have to know what kind of contests to enter in order to see a profit. Bottom line, if you are just throwing up a lineup of players you think are good without doing daily research, you probably won't get good results. I put a lot of work into and have great results.

I agree. Rotogrinders is worth every penny. It has a lot of good information. I won more basketball than anything. I've been playing it for a month now and have won about $1000. My only concern is that I have made a withdrawal a week ago and I still have not seen my check?

DraftKings vs FanDuel

By Brendon,

Portland, ME,

Jan 19, 2016

I've had fun with both DK and FD. Withdrawals from both went smoothly as advertised! DraftKings has an extra flex position where FanDuel has a kicker. DraftKings offers $25 referral incentive to both the newcomer and referrer. The signup process through a referral is identical to signing up traditionally. The $25 can be used to enter contests. You cannot withdraw this $25 but money you win from contests entered with that money can be.

Not a scam (Legit)

It's funny how these people are mad at the website when it's actually them. It's either they failed out of statistics or they have no idea what the money side of sports is and should stay in the stands drinking beer and yelling. I have made over 50k in 2 years on this site. I use one lineup in 27 dollars or even 3 dollars sometimes. I WIN. Not once but I have won over 15 major tourneys on here. Not place. I have won. Just these people that complain are probably mad at the world because they aren't capable of actually thinking like a fantasy sports player. It amuses me and I hope they are addicted to gambling because it's free money to guys like me.

So far so good

By Jean Oriol,

NY,

Nov 9, 2014

Some people who play these games also do a lot of research on their players, and the teams. Sometimes it's one player that make the big difference It does not make any sense for you to see someone else's team before the game starts otherwise you will just copy it. But once the game starts, you can click on any team and you will see all of their players, and how they score. If you have the same players then check the scores in order to see if any scores are different for the same player. When I win, the money is put in my account that same moment. I do not redraw any money yet, but when I do, I will post it here.

Don't be fooled.

By Scott,

Albuquerque, NM,

Jul 9, 2015

Anyone who thinks they will get their deposit matched immediately is just plain foolish. Come on people, think about it, and they don't try to hide the bonus process. Try reading the rules first. That being said, I do question how the top players seem to pick even the second tier players that happen to have a career day, every week.

I study and research an awful lot but never seem to be able to pick them like the top money winners every week. It's one of those things that make you really wonder. I hope they aren't cheating that way because I really enjoy playing on DraftKings.